Sungi Started Democratic Governance Project (DGP) in 6 National assemblies Constituencies

Sungi under its Human & Democratic Rights Programme (HDR) had started Democratic Governance Project in six constituencies of Hazara Division. The project is on going in 4-districts of Hazara Division, Haripur, Abbottabad, Mansehra and Battagram.

Prime objective of DGP is to introduce democratic reforms within the country by facilitating ongoing dialogue between citizen and their elected representatives and to encourage people-centered legislation and policy making in order to strengthen the overall process of democracy. Following Components work under this programme;

Governance Monitoring:
The structure of foundational principles of democracy is built on the assumption that there is a correlation between the quality of services provided to the general public and the nature of governance system which has the ability and flexibility to reflect and represent aspirations of the masses. Through this component Sungi monitors the conduct and performance of elected and public institutions during the intervening period of general elections.

Level of governance is determined by studying key indicators pertaining to governance. For governance monitoring purposes, units of analysis identified by FAFEN are: elected institutions-District Council, Tehsil Council and Union Council.-as well as public institutions-healthcare facilities, schools, police stations, NADRA, Election Commission of Pakistan, public accounts, literacy etc. Project staff collects data about these processes, procedures, initiatives and structures of elected and public institutions by conducting interviews, undertaking complaints and conducting surveys gauging community perception and elected visits, submitting information requests, lodging complaints and elected and public institutions responsiveness.  

Research design of this study focuses on collecting data that pertains to governance indicators of transparency, accountability, representation, output, responsiveness, effectiveness and institutionalization. Hence data thus collected measures transparent functioning of elected and public institutions, their ability to hold public officials accountable for any wrong-doing, the extent to which these public institutions have institutionalized their process and their output, representation, effectiveness and responsiveness levels.

Political and Electoral Violence:
Under this theme monitoring of electoral and peace events is regularly done and reported each month. The goal of the PEVER component is to increase public awareness about political and electoral violence. To increase support for the prevention and reduction of political and electoral violence is another goal. 

The objective of PEVER is to monitor and verify all incidents of political and electoral violence where political violence will be monitored throughout the project period but electoral violence will be monitored only during bye elections, LG elections and general elections.

Under this component any act of violence or threat of violence (physical or psychological, social or economic) aimed at any person/group or property in order to disrupt the electoral process during the election period (forthcoming LG election in this case) would be reported. Sungi would monitor incidents of violence and peace by a cadre of trained constituency coordinators in their assigned 6-constituencies. 

The data generated will be analyzed and released publically. In the light of this Sungi with the support of FAFEN will develop advocacy strategy for peace building at local and national level to prevent and manage electoral and political violence.

Election Observation:
Sungi has a history of election observation. Sungi observed LG election 2001, General election 1995, 2004, bye-elections Bannu in 2007, International elections of Philippine in 2007, Afghanistan 2009 and bye elections of Mansehra II in 2010. Sungi with the support of FAFEN observed the bye-election in NA 21 Mansehra II. FAFEN provided technical assistance to 45 mobile observers who observed the bye-election in 132 polling stations out of which 30 were women and 33 were men and 69 joint polling stations. FAFEN compiled the report of bye-election and publicized it recently.  

Constituency Relations:
Under this theme a Constituency Relations Group (CRG) has been formed in each constituency. The 15 members group comprises of social activists, women, minority members, journalist and students. CRG is central to the Democratic Governance Program. The CRG is an idea that will assume the form of a tangible group as the program rolls out. The CRG will act as a catalyst to foster and foment local level accountabilities with the objective of enhancing the responsiveness of national, provincial and local-level elected representatives and public officials. The ultimate objective of the groups, however, will remain strategic and concerted efforts to improve governance processes that have a direct impact on the lives of the people.

Voter Registration:
Under this component Sungi would start ‘Voter Registration Campaign’ in 6-constituncies of 4 districts of Hazara Division. The aim behind this is to facilitate increasing citizens’ participation in democratic process to enhance their participation in legislative, policy-making and decision-making processes that affect their lives. To complement the voter registration campaign, Sungi is also facilitating citizens in the issuance of 'Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs) in Haripur, Abbottabad, Mansehra and Battagram. Collaboration with NADRA for this endeavor has already been sought.